The Laws of Rugby Union  say: "The purpose of the scrum is to restart play quickly, safely and fairly, after a minor infringement or a stoppage." As the scrum follows things like knock-ons or forward passes, it is a common sight on the rugby field and can make an excellent attacking platform.

The law explains: "A scrum is formed in the field of play when eight players from each team, bound together in three rows for each team, close up with their opponents so that the heads of the front rows are interlocked. This creates a tunnel into which a scrum-half throws in the ball so that front-row players can compete for possession by hooking the ball with either of their feet."

There is an old school of thought which says that a strong scrum goes a long way towards winning a game. While the game has changed a lot since in recent years, this still rings true to a lesser extent.

'Hayman's play at tighthead is one of the main reasons for the domination shown by the All Black scrum in recent Tests'


The engine room of the scrum is the front row, two props and a hooker, and each position is highly specialised. The props help anchor the scrum and also attempt to gain an advantage over their opponents, while the hooker, who also provides some power, will hook the ball as it is fed into the scrum.

Props are typically solidly built and extremely strong men, but need to employ good technique if they are to compete at the highest level. When All Black Carl Hayman came up against Wallaby Matt Dunning in the recent Tri-Nations Test in Melbourne, it was Hayman's near-flawless technique rather than his tremendous strength that allowed him to dominate his opponent.

Hayman is considered by many to be the best prop in the world. His play at tighthead is one of the main reasons for the domination shown by the All Black scrum in recent Tests. Despite being a tall man for a prop, he is able to use his size against opponents and rarely takes a backwards step.

On the opposite end of the scale from Hayman would be Dunning or former Wallaby Bill Young. Both are strong men but have poor technique and resort to illegal methods such as pulling rather than pushing, or driving up and in when faced with a tough opponent.

The other forwards involved in the scrum are the locks and loose forwards who have very different roles. The lock's job is simply to provide additional power behind their front rowers, whereas the loose forwards are looking to get to the next phase of play as quickly as possible to either make tackles or support their team-mates.

The final player involved in the scrum is the half-back who feeds the ball into the scrum. For a number of seasons the IRB has implored referees to police the feed more strictly. Currently referees are asking half-backs for "credible" feeds, meaning some part of the ball must touch the imaginary line down the centre of the scrum.

Many years ago the scrum was the main source of serious spinal injuries, but thanks to education initiatives such as Small Blacks to All Blacks or the Front Row Factory, and greater control given to the referees, the scrum is now quite same and serious injuries have been reduced dramatically.

This season has seen a slight alteration to the way referees control the scrum engagement process. Referees now call: "Crouch, touch, pause, engage". The addition of the touch and pause calls initially caused some difficulty for the players, but now that they are used to the new rhythm the scrums have settled down.

Once the scrum has successfully engaged, the props must bind onto the body of their opposite and push straight, not upwards or in towards the centre. While the ball remains in the scrum the loose forwards must remain bound and cannot adjust their angle.

The players who are not involved in the scrum must remain behind the line of the last man's foot until the scrum ends when either the ball comes out or the last man detaches from the scrum. There are other scrum infringements such as 'foot up' or a non-front rower playing the ball in the tunnel, but these are highly technical and rare even at club level.

The scrum is a contest for the ball even though the team which puts the ball in almost always wins it, but recently more and more referees have begun to treat it as a method of restarting play, even penalising teams for competing.

There are still many mysteries in the scrum, especially around front-row techniques, but the laws have well defined and easily understood roles for each player involved. Even if you fail to understand the subtleties of the front row, the scrum is actually far simpler than it looks.

Next week's "Aw Ref" will answer some of the questions I most commonly field from players and fans.